Their Egyptian lawyer, Adam Khaled El Shalakany, will be working with Canadian consular officials to apply with the jail to visit Greyson and Loubani, said Cecilia. The families were told the men are “OK” after a previous visit on Sunday.

“They’re trying to visit again (Thursday) with a doctor,” Cecilia said.

Mutual friend Justin Podur said as of Wednesday no charges have been laid against them. He added that he believes “bizarre allegations” made against the pair in an Egyptian prosecutor’s statement, which include involvement in separate riots last week near a mosque and a police station, are entirely untrue.

The statement detailed how the Canadians, as part of a group of nine unidentified foreigners, would remain in jail for up to 15 days while these allegations are investigated, Podur said.

“It’s just a whole bunch of people thrown together in a group, with accusations levelled against them.”

On Wednesday, Egypt’s ambassador to Canada Wael Aboulmagd told The Canadian Press that “technically it is possible” the Canadians are released within 15 days, because that is the maximum amount of time one can be legally detained.

“I think the first period will be four days, and then . . . the prosecutor decides if he needs more time,” he said.

Greyson, 53, and Loubani, 32, travelled to Egypt last week, with the aim of passing into neighbouring, where Loubani has set up a medical program to train doctors and nurses at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Greyson a Genie-award winning filmmaker, planned to work on a movie after accepting Loubani’s invitation to observe his work at the hospital, according to his sister.

Although details of their arrest remain murky, Cecilia said she heard from consular officials that her brother and Loubani were arrested when they entered a police station because they were lost in the city. They had decided to postpone their trip to Gaza due to unrest in the country that forced the closure of the border with the Palestinian territory, she said.

An online petition calling for their release had garnered more than 44,000 signatures by Wednesday evening.

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